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Tuesday, 4 July 2017

The Tuesday Rant - Foxhunting

Let's get something straight first. I've no issue with farmers shooting foxes to protect livestock. I've no problem with people keeping moghies or Jack Russell terriers to kill rats. I've no issue at all with killing animals for food or essential medical research (although I do for cosmetics). I have no issue with using hawks to control pigeons or even farms shooting them with shotguns to protect crops. None of those activities excite me, but I accept they need to be done to protect our food and health.

Fox hunting is however a totally different matter. As far as I am concerned, you'd have to be a sociopath to even start to think it is an alright thing to do. It is not a sport, a sport has two evenly matched parties with an unpredictable outcome. Both play with consent. Fox hunting is simply an excuse for a bunch of revolting half wits, who have an overblown sense of entitlement to run rampage across the country and glory in the brutal killing of animals. Foxhounds are not treated like domestic dogs and when their 'useful life' is over they are usually put down. The practice has little value in pest control as farmers generally deal with nuisance foxes with a shotgun. The argument that it is part of country life is like claiming sexual abuse is part of being an alter server at church. The only economy it serves is its own bubble and does nothing for poverty in rural areas. If it did, then such poverty wouldn't exist. There can be no argument that hunts benefit the environment as fishing clubs do. Fishing clubs manage Waters and preserve ecosystems. If hunts claim foxes are vermin and require destruction, how can they claim that they are preserving ecosystems? Foxes are a nuisance and in urban areas are increasingly becoming a problem, however no one is claiming a hunt in St Johns Wood or Hyde park is the answer.

To me it beggars belief that the Tories even considered bringing it back. The UK should be a forward looking nation, not a bastion of Middle Ages cruelty.

5 comments:

Hang on - so you don't mind fox numbers being controlled, just people enjoying themselves whilst it happens? You say terriers killing rats are OK so surely a foxhound killing a fox is OK? The majority of people out riding or walking with a hunt (pre-ban) never saw a fox and certainly had nothing to do with a kill. They, as today with trail hunting, were there for the ride.I'm sure the fox, rat, rabbit or other animal being hunted and killed could not care less if there is a group of people in an adjacent field riding their horses or on foot.

I see dealing with an infestation of rats etc was a sad necessity. I see a bunch of hooray Henry types salivating over a fox being ripped to bits as something disgusting. If drag hunts do not kill animals and the Henry types behave themselves and obey the law then it is not an issue for me, although personally I'd rather drink a bucket of cold sick than participate.

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Dyslexic punk rock guitarist, studio owner and author Barnet Eye blog, proprieter of Mill Hill Music Complex Studios. Born and raised in the London Borough of Barnet. Loves loud music, beer,curry and football and occasionally strings two coherent sentences together. Drop dead georgous and hung like a horse (the last sentence is purely a personal opinion).

If you have received a penalty fare at a Thameslink Station and you sent an appeal off to the Independent Penalty Fare Appeals Service, did you notice that this says at the bottom of the letter you got back "London and South Eastern Railways T/A IPFAS". In other words, it's not independent, it's an arm of a train company. They actually run Blackfriars station.

I believe that it is a scandal that this service calls itself independent, but there is no right of appeal and it's run by one of the train operators. I believe that the penalty ticket scheme is a scam to generate extra profits for these companies.

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